Lean and Clean

Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions

Lean and Clean: Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions 2 towerswatson.com
Many factors can add time and money unnecessarily
if not thought through carefully. These include the
number of years of data selected, the number of
data elements and the cleanliness of the data you
choose to convert. It also depends on the number
of transactions in your legacy system as well as
your conversion teams technical abilities. Points to
evaluate as you make these decisions should include
the following:
What, specifcally, do we need to achieve with our
Workday implementation?
For what reasons do we access historical data, how
often, and what data segments and level of trend
information do we utilize?
What data do we have? What is the source, and
what is the location?
How actively are we currently using the data?
Which data need to be reportable, and which can be
archived?
Can we store or continue storing it in a data
warehouse?
Should we retain access to our legacy HRMS read-
only or database structure?
What impact will our choice to convert certain data
have on the effort, cost and timeline of our project
implementation?
Your companys specifc requirements for effciency,
effectiveness, alignment and results in addition to
the data requirements involved, will help you determine
which options are a good ft for your organization.
One of the most complex and critical planning
aspects for organizations switching from a traditional
HR management system (HRMS) to a software-as-
a-service application such as Workday is making
the right choices about conversion and storage of
historical HR data. Companies often struggle with
decisions about how much and what type of data
to convert and store either internally in Workday,
externally in a data warehouse, by retaining reporting
access to the old system, or through a combination of
these or other options.
These choices require strategic thinking, as they
involve a number of trade-offs that can greatly impact
project effort, cost and risk. The best way to set about
making the right decisions for your organization is
to come to an understanding of the data conversion
process, as well as your companys specifc reporting
needs and requirements. This can be more diffcult
than it sounds.
What Does the Data Conversion Process
Involve?
Your project team will extract data from your current
system, place it in a standardized format (iLoad, MS
Excel), ensure the data is clean, load it into Workday
(while determining any missing elements) and perform
quality control functions.
What causes the most anxiety for new Workday
customers is determining which historical data to
keep and which to let go. Pinpointing the extent of
reportable data required what types and from how
far back is tricky. Too little, and you will not be able
to generate the reports and workforce analysis you
need; too much, and there will be a dramatic impact
on the cost, effort and length of your implementation
project.
The best way to set about making the right decisions for your organi-
zation is to come to an understanding of the data conversion process,
as well as your companys specic reporting needs and requirements.
Lean and Clean: Making the Right Workday Data Conversion Decisions 3 towerswatson.com
What Are the Limitations of Workdays
Transactional History?
Contingent worker staffng history, worker moves and
other reorganization events, as well as organizational
role assignments, cannot be loaded into Workday.
However, what can be loaded includes:
Employee staffng history (hires, terms, promotions,
transfers, demotions, edits and positions)
Employee compensation history
Employee performance review history
Employee time off and leave
Personal data changes
Contract/contingent worker data (start and end
dates)
While any amount of data conversion can be done for
an implementation, doing more can add signifcantly
more time and cost. Converting more data also
requires the right resources (e.g., IT, HR SMEs, HRIS)
as well as repeated planning and testing.
How to Contain Costs and Avoid Risk
Generally, cost is added to an implementation project
when companies dont have clean and accurate data
in the legacy system. In that case, data mapping and
transformation cannot occur until a good deal of time
and effort is spent cleaning up the data. It is critical
to take the time up front to design a well-thought-
out strategy for the historical data from your legacy
system. In fact, calculated felds and custom report
development can help solve this issue with much less
effort than full data conversions.
Another consideration is whether your organization
really needs to create or insert incorrect data to
complete historical transactions, which can jeopardize
the credibility of other pristine data that was
converted (e.g., supervisory hierarchy data). To put it
bluntly, converting historical transactions can easily
double the cost of your data conversion effort, as well
as lengthen the timeline of your implementation.
What Options Do Other Companies
Exercise?
Depending on its footprint and requirements, an
organization may choose a single option for access
to previous system history or a combination of the
following:
Use Workdays provided containers: Compensation
From Previous System and Job History From
Previous System.
Do not bring any previous system history into
Workday.
Retain query access to history in previous HRMS.
Load terminated records into a separate
organization within Workday.
Load previous system history into a data warehouse.
Load previous system history information directly
into Workdays transaction framework.
For example, your company may exclusively use
Workdays provided containers for compensation and
job histories from the previous system. Or you may
choose to use those containers in concert with a data
warehouse or with retained access to your previous HR
system.
Most organizations choose between one and three
years of history to convert into the Workday core
system. The best practice is to convert the minimum
number of years required to meet your companys
reporting needs while, at the same time, minimizing
project-related risks. Containing the number of data
elements and transactions that need to be converted
reduces project complexity, time and cost while
meeting your reporting needs. Workdays Previous
System History area will be key to maximizing data
conversion while minimizing added effort that could
result in a negative return on your investment.
While any amount of data conversion can be
done for an implementation, doing more can
add signicantly more time and cost.
About Towers Watson
Towers Watson is a leading global professional services
company that helps organizations improve performance through
effective people, risk and fnancial management. With 14,000
associates around the world, we offer solutions in the areas
of employee benefts, talent management, rewards, and risk and
capital management.
Copyright 2012 Towers Watson. All rights reserved.
TW-NA-2012-24667
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Less Can Defnitely Be More
We recommend that you convert only as much
historical data as can be cleanly exported from your
legacy system. This requires defning a structured set
of data exports based on your reporting needs and
available felds (data elements). Once these exports
are loaded into Workdays Previous System History
area, the great majority of your reports will be based
on these data elements.
Also, Workdays Previous System History can be
joined with your prior system for reporting via Excel
transformations using the Workday Studio tool
set. This approach avoids extra expense in your
implementation since the majority of project time is
used for extracting, formatting and testing your data
within Workday itself.
Let Your Vision Guide the Implementation
Technology alone cannot provide all the innovation
you need to align HR with business goals and lift the
bottom line. Therefore, it is especially important that
during planning or chartering, you clearly articulate
your vision and goals for the implementation as well
as your companys specifc requirements and actual
needs for historical data, both now and in the future.
Then be guided by that vision, avoiding changes in
course or scope that can compromise success.
It is your up-front strategic planning that enables
Workday to increase effciency and optimize HR
effectiveness for your organization. Limiting data
conversion to the lean, the clean and the necessary
can save time, effort and cost while avoiding risk and
maximizing results.
It is your up-front strategic planning that enables Workday to increase
ef ciency and optimize HR efectiveness for your organization.